2 Kings 25
1 And it came to pass in the ninth
year of his reign, in the tenth month,
that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, and all his
host, against Jerusalem; and he encamped against it, and built a
aOr, circumvallation.mound against it. 2 And the city was
besieged until the eleventh year of king Sedekias on the ninth day of the
month. 3 And the famine prevailed in
the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
4 And the city was broken up, and all
the men of war went forth by night, by the way of the gate between the walls,
this is the gate of the king's garden: and the
Chaldeans were set against the city round about: and
the king went by the way of
bGr. from the Heb.the plain. 5 And the force of the
Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all
his army was dispersed from about him.
6 And they took the king, and brought
him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha; and he gave judgment upon him.
7 And he slew the sons of Sedekias
before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Sedekias, and bound him in fetters,
and brought him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, on the
seventh day of the month (this is the nineteenth year
of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon), came Nabuzardan,
cGr. chief cook.captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem.
9 And he burnt the house of the Lord,
and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every house did
the captain of the guard burn. 10 And
the force of the Chaldeans pulled down the wall of Jerusalem round about.
11 And Nabuzardan the captain of the
guard removed the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the
dGr. deserters.men who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
12 But the captain of the guard left
of the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen.
13 And the Chaldeans broke to pieces
the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the
brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, and carried their brass to
Babylon. 14 And the caldrons, and the
shovels, and the bowls, and the censers, and all the brazen vessels with which
they minister, he took. 15 And the
captain of the guard took the fire-pans, and the gold and silver bowls.
16 Two pillars, and one sea, and the
bases which Solomon made for the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the
brass of all the vessels. 17 The
height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the
chapiter upon it was of brass: and the height of the chapiter was three
cubits: the border, and the pomegranates on the chapiter round about were all
of brass: and so it was with the second pillar with its border.
18 And the captain of the guard took
Saraias the
eGr. first priest.high-priest, and Zephaniah
fGr. the son of the second rank.the second in order, and the three door-keepers.
19 And they took out of the city one
eunuch who was commander of the men of war, and five men that saw the face of
the king, that were found in the city, and the secretary of the
commander-in-chief, who took account of the people of the land, and sixty men
of the people of the land that were found in the city.
20 And Nabuzardan the captain of the
guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Reblatha.
21 And the king of Babylon smote them
and slew them at Reblatha in the land of Æmath. So Juda was carried away from
his land.
22 And
as for the people that were left in the land of Juda,
whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon left, even over them he set Godolias son
of Achicam son of Saphan. 23 And all
the captains of the host, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon
had thus appointed Godolias, and they came to
Godolias to Massephath, both Ismael the son of Nathanias, and Jona son of
Careth, and Saraias, son of Thanamath the Netophathite, and Jezonias son of a
Machathite, they and their men.
24 And Godolias swore to them and
their men, and said to them, Fear not the
gGr. passage.incursion of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon,
and it shall be well with you. 25 And
it came to pass in the seventh month that Ismael son
of Nathanias son of Helisama, of the
hGr. seed of the kings.seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and he smote Godolias, that he died,
him and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him
in Massepha. 26 And all the people,
great and small rose up, they and the captains of the
forces, and went into Egypt; because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27 And it came to pass in the
thirty-seventh year of the carrying away of Joachim king of Juda, in the
twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month,
that Evialmarodec king of Babylon in the
first year of his reign lifted up the head of Joachim
king of Juda, and brought him out of his prison-house.
28 And he spoke
iGr. good things with him.kindly to him, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were
with him in Babylon; 29 and changed
his prison garments: and he ate bread continually before him all the days of
his life. 30 And his portion, a
continual portion, was given him out of the house of the king,
jGr. a rate of a day in his day.a daily rate for every day all the days of his life.